New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-28
INSURANCE MEN AROUSED
THE BIG FIRES OF TWO MONTHS.
ALARMING INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF CON
FLAdRATIoNs THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY

ALARMING INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF con-
FAAdRATIoNs THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY
-cAUsEs AND EFFEcrs.
Two gentiemen sat at luncheon In q we'll
known down town restaurant yesterday. One
was tall thin man with side whislxcrs. the
other was shorter man, thick set, rosy checked.
good looking, Both were Of middle age. The
tall man twtrled his knife thoughtfully q
moment and then said5 "h these big Ares
keep up for the next two months as they have
for the last sixty days, the fire insurance COM
panies will have to stop doing business"
Yes" responded the other with evident SYM
pathy, this Is getting to be terrible. know
OF only one insurance company that has made
any money In the last six months
And ], too know Of one only" replied the
other. $50 that probably these are the only
two that have not been doing a losing business.
And neither of these is my company"
Nor mine," was the melancholy reply Of
the other.
The two men finished their lunch and departed.
Each was the president of an insurance company
whose headquarters are in this city. The number
OF large fires throughout the country within the
past two months has become a matter Of thought
ful Ii not serious concern with insurance COM
panies. The best posted men In the business say
that In that time the amount of losses has been
from two to three times what it was for the
whole Of last year; in other words, four or five
times the usual ratio. The annual amount Of
losses averages about $10o, 100000
At the Office of a firm Of well known insurance
brokers yesterday II was said that the past six
months had been the most disastrous in tho
fire record of any like PERIOD save of course in
that embracing the Chicago and Boston fires.
So far as had been learned only two companies
IL IL IL IL.
Some companies have of late been making a
little better statement, but this effected
through an abnormal stimulus, the reaction from
which will probably be paid for Later on. The
companies are all exercised over the question Of
how to meet what they call "these terrific
losses,' coming as they do, in an unprecedented
sequence The matter has been discussed in
every office and in every association of UNDER
writer's.
There is one striking phase Of this matter
which has come to the fore prominently in a
few days. and that is the relation Of Herr Most
and his sympathizers tO many Of those fires.
AS Indicative of the extent to which insurance
companies are being reused to this question,
1t is only necessary to call attention to
special meeting of the New-York Board Of Under
writer's hch yesterday to discuss this very subject
and adopt ways and means to meet the cmer-
gency. Herr Most's book bearing on the subject
of dynamite and phosphorus as incendiary agents
was considered at length, especially his claim
that many recent fires were due to their use.
Copies Of newspapers, the book itself, and all
available information upon the point were q
week before handed to the Committee on
Police and the Origin of Fires, with instruc-
tions to make a thorough investigation Of tho
matter and report upon some plan which would
check, II possible, the great increase in tho
number of fires which were undoubtedly in
cendiary. On this point a member Of the Board
said yesterday; John Most has become
factor In the SUBJECT Of fire insurance. Our
civilization has come to q pretty pass when such
red mouthed, ranting Anarchists utterances
have to be considered by fire insurance companies
and means devised to abate their baneful effects.
There is some means Of reaching this man, and
what the law can do will soon be tried. He
openly boasts in his book that recent fires arc
some of them at least due TO the Anarchists.
Whether true or not his utterances have their
effect"
On the subject of avcrting disastrous losses in
fire insurance remedies have been considcrcd
by fire underwriters from time TO time Yester-
day all phases Of the matter were taken up.
One measure proposed is that every person
insured shall, in the case of run of such
extraordinary and-for the companies-exhausting
losses share In a portion of his own loss. Another
remedy suggester was that known as the French
system. in which every insured person must pay
for injury done to contiguous property when
the fire starts on his own premises
Underwriters say that there is only one thing
for them TO bear in mind, and that Is how TO
pay their losses and make profit besides.
Whether the community at large Is not forced
to share In the losses and has not an interest In
q concerted movement to diminish the great iire
waste and It's consequent tax, is a subject also
held under advisement by the underwriters.
They hold that an annual tax OF slO0,0O0,O0O
in any other field or form would be at once
subject Of popular interest.
This city and vicinity have been the great
sufferers in the recent unprecedented losses. Said
Mr. Kennedy yesterday; "New-Yorl< has been
the worst sufferer in the last six months, although
Chicago Milwaukee and other cities have done
their best to keep up an undesirable rivalry.
Just this morning we learn Of another Milwaukee
| flre-loss 100000.
Franklin Webster, editor of "The Insurance
| Chronicle said Of New-York's share I'm. these
recent losses: "The recent large fires seem to
have punched themselves in and around New
York. SO that In the past six months the losses
here have been twice what they were Tor tho
whole of the preceding year, making the ratio
four times as large for the same periad II this
rate should be continued long 1t would OF course
be disastrous; but that is not to be expected,
and there Is no reasonable ground for q panicky
feeling. This year the extreme West has been
fortunate, Last year 1t was the other way;
the losses seem to alternate in alternate years
between the East and the West"
At the office of Mills q Ford the ratio Oh
losses for the past six months In this city was
put as even higher, being given at from two TO
three times as much as for the entire preceding
year. ...
been brought to light in the recent losses Is
what are termed Jumbo" lines, and the matter
is commented on with surprise in insurance
circles BY this 1t is meant that several COM
panies which had hitherto incurred FISK OF q
,oroortaoa bave been insurlng much